Improvement in the manufacture of watch-chain swivels



J. F. HARRIS.

MANUFACTURE OF WATCH CHAIN SW IVELS.

Patented June 27,1876.

E 1. fledace l m nw ma RH F wn N-PEIERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON: D. C.

JOHN F. HARRIS, OF NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD E. BARROVVS, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MA fl UF AQTURE OF WATCH-CHAIN SWIVELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1 79-1 I 2, dated June 27, 1876; application filed May 11, 1876.

To all zrhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN F. HARRIS, of North Attlebor0ugh,Bristol county, Massachusetts, have invented a new Method of Man-' ufacturing lNatch-Ohaiu Swivels, of which the following is a specification:

The main purpose of this invention is to lessen the cost of production of watch-chain swivels 0r hooks, which I effect by the method of manufacture hereinafter stated; but the swivel which is produced by this method is superior in many respects to those made in the ordinary manner.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent in Figure 1 a perspective view of the dies and their holder, by which the body of the swivel is roughed out of the wire rod in the first stage of the manufacture. In Fig. 2 a view of the body of the swivel as roughed outfrom the wire rod. Fig. 3 is a section of the jig, in which the swivel body is held while drilling the pocket which receives the spring. Figure 4 is a perspective view of the slide rest orjig, in which the body of the swivel is supported and fed up to the milling-tool in the act of cutting the channel to receive the loop. Fig. 5 is a view of the yoke-shaped piece of metal from which the hook and latch of the swivel are produced. Fig. 6 is a section of the body. Fig. 7 is an enlarged section of the body portion of the swivel.

In carrying out my invention I provide myself with a piece of metal wire or a long rod, A, (usually of bars) which I insert in the bore of the tubular arbor of the lathe in which the greater part of the labor in producing the swivel is carried out. The end of the rod A is griped by the chuck attached to the lathearbor, with a sufficient portion protruding from the latter to produce the desired body of the swivel. I next employ a pair of tongs or pinchers, B, to the jaws of which I secure sectional twin dies 0 O, which together constitute a female die whose interior conformation is that to which the body D of the swivel is to be reduced. Grasping the instrument B in the right hand, and putting the lathe in revolution, I inclose the end of the rod A between the dies (3 O, and force such dies together. The result is that the edges of the dies act upon the rod to turn or reduce it, and the pressure is usually maintained until the dies meet, or until one handle, a, of the instrument 13 brings up against an adjustable stop, I), projecting from the opposite handle a, when the end of the rod A will be found to have been turned to the requisite shape, as shown at c in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The purpose of the stop I) is to provide a uniform gage to which alarge number of swivel bodies may be reduced, and in this manner adapt the instrument to the turning of bodies of varying sizes. The body D is now out from the rod A and is inserted shank first within a jig, d, shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The slide rest or jig d is now fed up to a rotary cutter or milling-tool, and the latter cuts in the head 6 a channel, f, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, to receive the base of the' latch, to be hereinafter described. The body D is now removed from the jig d and secured within a second jig or clamp, g, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, and a pocket, h, is drilled axially in such body D, the clamp being adapted to the lathe before named, or to a drilling-machine, in such a manner that pockets of uniform depth are bored. I next drill a small hole, c, through the end of the body D, and at one side thereof, this hole intercepting the channelfat right angles and serving to receive the pivot of the latch. A hole, j, is created in the jig 9, through which the drill passes to bore the hole 2'. I now provide myself with a yoke-shaped bar or piece of metal, 70, shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, the extremity of one arm, 7c,'of such yoke being formed into an enlargement, l, in which I drill a hole, m, to coincide with the hole i before named, while, making part of the enlargement l, is a spur, a, against which a spring acts, as hereinafter explained. Proceeding, I drop within the pocket It a coiled spring, h, and I next insert the enlargement l of the yoke kin the deepest part of the channel f of thevhead D, and pass a pivot, 0, through the coinciding holes 1' and m. I now I now sever or cut through the yoke 70, with an oblique cut, q, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and the swivel is complete, so far as my invention relates to it, though the ordinary loop or eye is added to its stem, as shown at 1" in said Fig. 6.

It will be seen that the effect of the cut q is to provide, by the portion 19 of the yoke 76, a rigid hook, by which the chain is secured to the ring of the watch, while the portion It becomes a yielding spring-latch to enable the chain to be readily attached to or removed from the said ring.

By means of my method of manufacturing swivels, as above stated, Igreatly economize the time'required to produce these articles as oompared with the method heretofore practiced, while I produce a strong, durable, and convenient swivel.

I claim- 1. The method of manufacturing swivels, substantially as herein stated.

2. The instrument for fashioning or turning from the rod the body of the swivel, such instrument consisting of the pinchers B, with the female semi-dies U- U, substantially as and for purposes stated.

JOHN F. HARRIS. NVitnesses:

Tnos. G. SANDLAND, HENRY E. OAPRON. 

